Bitterness
by scuba angel
Summary: House gets a surprise from a patient on one of his rare appearances on clinic duty, but how will he take it?


'Start the patient off on a drip and we'll go from there.' Gregory House ordered his three co-workers and watched in satisfaction as they all scurried off like little worker bees.

'House.' Wilson stated as he walked into the office.

'Think if I gave them all honey they'd actually buzz and work faster?' House asked in his familiar sarcastic way before popping one of his pain pills he had grown addicted to.

'House.' Wilson tried again.

'I mean, seriously, a little bit of sugar would give them an almighty buzz!'

'House.'

'Trust me, I've seen them on caffeine.'

'House!' Wilson yelled to stop his rant. In response, House just tolled his eyes and stood up.

'What Wilson? Is it Cuddy again, because if I've told her once, I've told her a million times, I'm not going to sleep with her in my office again!' He recited loudly as he walked out of his office and was flanked on both sides by Wilson and Cuddy who had just joined them.

'House! For Gods sake listen to me!' Wilson yelled causing everyone to stop, except, of course, for House.

'Can't talk now, Stuart. I've got clinic duty.' He turned round to face them before pushing the elevator button with his cane and disappearing from their view.

'Funnily enough, that happens to be the one place I do not want him to go.' Lisa Cuddy told her male peer before calling for the next elevator.

* * *

'Hello, I'm Dr Dover. Ben Dover. What seems to be the problem today?' House spoke as he walked into the room with his head down.

'I think I might have tonsillitis.' House stopped briefly as he heard the distinctive accent.

'Name?'

'Dawn Brooks.'

'D.O.B?'

'13th September 1990.' House looked up at this.

'Hmm. Birthplace?'

'Isn't it obvious?' The teenage girl asked from her place on the bed.

'Birthplace?'

'England.'

'Yes, I know, it's rather obvious from your accent.' The young woman scoffed slightly at his remark. 'I do believe that is a Midlands accent, if I'm not mistaken.'

'Telford.' The girl told him with a slight victorious smirk on her face. 'You ever been there?' House looked up and for the first time took in the teenager's appearance.

She was dressed in a black and blue sex pistols rock 'n' roll tee with black city shorts and classic black and white chequered vans. The girl sat there, modestly pretty, with clear, unblemished skin, blue eyes and long brunette hair; her skin unmarked by harmful sunlight.

'Not that I can recall.' House quickly replied before seating himself in front of his patient. 'You know, tonsillitis is a very common illness. You could just get some-'

'Penicillin off my GP, I know. This is my third round of tonsillitis. I think it's time they came out.' She told him confidently whilst looking him dead in the eye. House looked down into his jacket pocket before pushing her head back harshly.

'Argh!'

'Open wide and say ahh.' The girl groaned. 'No, not groan, ahh. It's a very simple vowel sound.' She glared at him from her disadvantaged point and it was House's turn to smirk victoriously. 'Well, whatever you have it isn't tonsillitis. You're probably just producing antibodies or something.' House got up off his stool and reached for his cane form by the wall and started to walk out.

'You're head of a department here, aren't you?' She enquired just as he was about to leave the treatment room.

'Yes, why?'

'No reason.' She told him with an innocent smile before House walked out, a little bit more freaked out than he had been when he first saw Cuddy's funbags at work.

* * *

House was standing with his team in a circle outside of a patient's room. He was looking down at the patient's chart and saw nothing, and so decided not to listen to what any of the rest of the team was saying. He looked up and saw the young girl from his earlier consultation. He wrinkled his nose in distaste before speaking to Cameron, chase and Foreman. 'That's good, go with Cameron's idea.' He told them before walking off.

'But…I didn't have an idea.' Cameron told the other two confused before the three walked off in defeat and began to start a new round of tests to figure out what was wrong with the patient.

'Are you lost little girl?' House asked the girl and she whirled around with a huge smile on her face.

'Nope. Wait,' she said looking around her. 'No, this is the right place.'

'Why are you here?'

'I came looking for you.' She told him as she hopped up onto the desk. This little character intrigued House, against his own will.

'Now why would you bother doing that? I mean, I'm way too old for you.'

'Okay, not cool. Especially after you divulge this information I've got for you.' She told him as she leant forward on the desk.

'And what information do you have for me to divulge.' House asked, faking interest, as he leant on his cane.

'Think back, 16 years, to a time when you were vacationing in a little town called Telford, it was December. You met a woman, you had a nice holiday fling and you came back to America.' Dawn leant back as she let the story rush back to House; he knew where this was going. 'You met Sandra Brooks. You, my dear doctor friend, are my father.'

House stood there silently looking at the deliriously happy and nervous girl before delivering his careful reply. 'You know what? Right now? I'm having a little problem with thinking back that far.' House slightly revelled in the way that this confident girls face dropped and her confidence visibly shattered in front of him. 'But you want to know what I do remember? I have a patient in that room dying right now, and I need to cure him. So, I won't be seeing you around.'

'But…' She hopped down off the counter and stared at the ground helplessly, House felt a slight amount of remorse. 'But you're my dad.'

House hesitated before openly lying to the girl. 'I am not your dad.' Before hobbling off away from the downhearted girl.

* * *

House sighed as he relaxed back into his chair and threw his tennis ball up at the ceiling. He blindly reached for his tablets and downed a couple before sighing again and leaning back further.

'Long day at the office?' House cringed before looking over to his door where Dawn stood, leaning on the glass.

'I thought I got rid of you.'

'What can I say? I'm stubborn.' She smiled as she walked in further and stood across from him with her arms crossed. 'I guess it's genetic.'

'See, I can't be your dad. I'm not stubborn!' House prided himself on his answer before it was thrown back at him.

'You're right. You've metamorphosed into bitterness.' House had lost his short temper by now. 'How's your patient?'

' Recovering. What makes you think I am your dad, huh? Really, what makes you think that?'

Dawn's face dropped at the question. '16 years ago, you met Sandra Brooks. You had sex with said woman and nine months later I was being forcefully pushed out of her vagina head first!' Well, House thought, she definitely has my way with words. 'You, Gregory House M. bloody D. are my father. Why can't you accept that?'

'I cannot accept that because I do not even know you!' Dawn recoiled at the anger in his voice. 'I barely even remember this Sandra Brooks you speak so dearly of and I have never even heard of you once in my entire life. I may be your biological father, but in no way am I your Dad. I did not raise you, I did not watch you grow up and nor do I plan to even be involved in the rest of that process!' House had to make it clear. 'Now, go back to England and go back to your mother. The one who did raise you and will continue to. You are extremely fucked up if you think that is going to change in the space of a day.'

Dawn's head had been downcast during his whole tirade and when she looked up he was shocked to see her eyes red with unshed tears. He'd at least have thought they'd be falling by now.

'My mother is dead.' House stopped in his tracks.

'I didn't-'

'But thanks for asking!' Dawn continued angrily. 'And you're right, you aren't my father. You didn't raise me and I don't expect you to. But right now, you are my only family and by law I HAVE to be here.' House looked away from the upset youth. 'And why would you even think you could be a father? You're so high on your Viocodin that you can't even see right in front of you! We have the same eyes, we have the same nose and by this very fiery display I would say we have the same temperament, and I'm also pretty damn sure that if I was still listening to hip hop and r'n'b, I'd have trainers exactly like yours! I may not have the same accent as you, but you are my last piece of family and I plan to try and hold onto that!' she paused to take a deep breath. If I'm fucked up? Then what the HELL are you?'

Dawn began to walk out of House's office to leave him thinking about what he had actually done to this girl he had known nothing about.

'Oh, and by the way.' She announced as she paused in the doorway. 'See you tomorrow…Dad.' She struggled to spit out before finally striding off down the corridor and out of the building via an elevator and a foyer.

House sighed and leaned back in his chair again, before taking another pill and continuing his monotonous game of throwing the tennis ball up and down. Up and down. Up and down.

* * *

tell me what you guys think and whether i should carry on with the story or not. thank for reading


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